Posted October 6th, 2009

By Dana Weiler-Polak Haaretz

Francesca Fueros ascends the stage during the swimsuit section of the beauty pageant. The director of the event stands on the sidelines, urging her on with shouts of “be sexy.”

Fueros, 5.5 years old, stops in front of the microphone and introduces herself to the judges in fluent Hebrew.

So goes candidate number four in the 2009 Miss Twinkle Star beauty and folklore competition, which stars the children of Filipino workers in Israel. (more…)

By NRJ RAMOS

The devastation wrought by typhoon “Ondoy” has made the Philippines one of the hottest topics on Twitter even among Hollywood stars.

Husband and wife Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore, who, until the last few hours were still continuously ‘tweeting’ about the situation, have posted links to organizations that could help in alleviating the plight of so many distraught Pinoys.

“Typhoon victims in Philippines in dire need of food/clothing. Call the American Red Cross to help,” the two urged.

Singer Josh Groban, who was one of the more graciously received visitors in Manila recently, also aired his concern via the web-based networking site.

“My heart goes out to my friends in the Philippines,” he tweeted, advising followers to send donations through Red Cross. (more…)

By Martin Abbugao (AFP)

MANILA — Typhoon Parma pummeled the northern Philippines on Saturday, toppling trees and cutting off power and telephone lines, as its rains threatened to bring more misery to millions of flood survivors in Manila.

Residents said extremely strong winds and rains began lashing the northern province of Cagayan after midday (0400 GMT), hours before the typhoon was expected to make landfall there in the evening.

“The wind is very, very angry,” Cagayan region police chief Director Roberto Damian said in a radio interview from his headquarters, about 400 kilometres (250 miles) from the Philippine capital.

“I can see trees are being toppled inside our camp… One sturdy Narra tree was uprooted and smashed a car and a house. We cannot go out,” he said in a radio interview before his line went dead.

There were reports that power and telephone lines were being cut off because of the storm, said Lieutenant Colonel Ernesto Torres, spokesman of the National Disaster Coordinating Council.

Cagayan is a mainly rural area with coastal towns and a population of just over one million people.

DZBB radio said heavy rains also pelted two towns in Zambales province north of Manila, and cars had to turn their headlights on because of poor visibility. (more…)